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Review of The Next Competitor by Keira Andrews

If you are friends with Keira Andrews on facebook you will know that the woman is figure skating mad! And it shows in this lovely little story about two male figure skaters. I didn’t read the original story, so I do not know how many of the reviews on the book’s page are for that one and how many are for the extended version. One thing all of the reviews have in common though, is very little love for our main protagonist, Alex. Which I guess is kind of understandable, Alex is a bit off an asshat. He is driven, ambitious, competitive and incredibly insecure. And that, combined with a squirrelly brain that just will NOT turn off and a malfunctioning head-to-mouth filter leaves him kind of friend-less in his training facility in Toronto. Not that it matters, because Alex has no time for friends or a social life. It’s the Olympic Season, don’t you know?

While I completely understood where Alex was coming from and felt that his behaviour was completely realistic, it didn’t mean that I didn’t want to slap him for being such a bastard towards Matt. Because, yes, in some ways Alex’ bad rep is well-earned. He is self-centered. As you need to be if you want to be top dog in any sport, I’m pretty sure. Nice does not win trophies.

But even with such a hard to like mc ms. Andrews still manages to get you rooting for him and Matt and you still want to hug him when his world falls apart. Even if he himself made it implode.

I loved this story, it was a great New Adult romance with some angst, great character growth and a few steamy sex scenes. Warmly recommended.